Year-round school finds little support at hearing

Published: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 9:40 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 9:40 p.m.

ROSMAN — About 15 students and parents beseeched the Transylvania County Board of Education Tuesday to stick with its traditional school calendar in 2014-15 and not implement a modified model with shorter breaks spread out throughout the year.

It was the second community input meeting the school board has held on the issue. A meeting May 13 in Brevard drew roughly 100 people, 25 of whom spoke against moving to a modified calendar in 2014.

Speaking before about 50 people in the Rosman High School media center Tuesday, Superintendent Jeff McDaris emphasized that no decisions have been made and won't be until the board considers all the public's concerns and questions.

"The current level of interest among parents in the school district was high enough to warrant at least some consideration," McDaris said, with interest almost evenly split between traditional and modified calendars.

An online "interest inventory" by the district last fall got 470 responses from parents. About 44 percent said they favored a modified calendar, while 47.6 percent percent said they preferred the current calendar of 180 student attendance days and a longer summer break.

The same survey found that of 232 instructional personnel who responded, 51.7 percent liked the modified calendar, while 42.7 percent favored the traditional approach.

State law allows school boards the choice of adopting a traditional calendar — typically running from mid-August to early June with 180 student days — or a modified schedule typically running from late July to late May, with one- to three-week breaks at the end of the first, second and third nine-week grading periods.

Those shorter breaks are often used to "provide special enrichment activities or are available to students for tutorial or remedial opportunities," McDaris said.

Proponents of modified calendars also point out that shorter breaks reduce "summer learning loss," although research on the issue is "mixed," he added.

Opponents of the idea argued school isn't the only place education takes place, pointing to camp programs, Governor's School, internships, summer jobs and travel as enriching summer activities that would suffer under a modified schedule.

Brevard Middle School student Jaclyn Neumann, 12, told the board that "summer is a time to reconnect with family" and most of her relatives live in Canada. Her brother, Aaron, said a shorter summer break would be "very inconvenient" for school athletes.

Transylvania County is a poor fit for a modified calendar based on the number of school employees who work summer breaks at local camps or other recreation-based jobs, said retired teaching assistant Lana Rhymer.

"The jobs that I had in the summer gave me the opportunity to earn money for my family that I would not have the chance to do if school had started back in July or had been extended further into the summer," she said.

Switching to a modified calendar would cost the Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County's about 5 percent of its budget, said board member Parker Platt. The club serves 400 students from every county school with after-school and summer programs.

With no added funds available to offset this cost, Platt said, savings would have to be achieved by raising fees, reducing hours, cutting enrollment, eliminating junior staff positions "or some combinations of these."

The only person who spoke for some form of modified calendar was Tony Meachum, principal at T.C. Henderson Elementary, who said limiting long summer breaks would "benefit our children, particularly when looking at the skills now that our children need in the 21st century."

Meachum said the current "agrarian calendar" was developed in the 19th century when "parents had to have their children home for three or four months in the summer to work in the fields. You don't have that to that degree anymore."

Today, the United States is falling behind other industrialized nations partly because "our students go to school the least number of hours per year." The modified schedule better allows enrichment for gifted kids and remediation for struggling students, he said.

School board members said they would take all the comments under advisement and thanked everyone, especially the students, for coming.

"You have given us some more things to think about," said Chair Tawny McCoy.

<p>ROSMAN — About 15 students and parents beseeched the Transylvania County Board of Education Tuesday to stick with its traditional school calendar in 2014-15 and not implement a modified model with shorter breaks spread out throughout the year.</p><p>It was the second community input meeting the school board has held on the issue. A meeting May 13 in Brevard drew roughly 100 people, 25 of whom spoke against moving to a modified calendar in 2014.</p><p>Speaking before about 50 people in the Rosman High School media center Tuesday, Superintendent Jeff McDaris emphasized that no decisions have been made and won't be until the board considers all the public's concerns and questions.</p><p>"The current level of interest among parents in the school district was high enough to warrant at least some consideration," McDaris said, with interest almost evenly split between traditional and modified calendars. </p><p>An online "interest inventory" by the district last fall got 470 responses from parents. About 44 percent said they favored a modified calendar, while 47.6 percent percent said they preferred the current calendar of 180 student attendance days and a longer summer break.</p><p>The same survey found that of 232 instructional personnel who responded, 51.7 percent liked the modified calendar, while 42.7 percent favored the traditional approach. </p><p>State law allows school boards the choice of adopting a traditional calendar — typically running from mid-August to early June with 180 student days — or a modified schedule typically running from late July to late May, with one- to three-week breaks at the end of the first, second and third nine-week grading periods.</p><p>Those shorter breaks are often used to "provide special enrichment activities or are available to students for tutorial or remedial opportunities," McDaris said. </p><p>Proponents of modified calendars also point out that shorter breaks reduce "summer learning loss," although research on the issue is "mixed," he added. </p><p>Opponents of the idea argued school isn't the only place education takes place, pointing to camp programs, Governor's School, internships, summer jobs and travel as enriching summer activities that would suffer under a modified schedule. </p><p>Brevard Middle School student Jaclyn Neumann, 12, told the board that "summer is a time to reconnect with family" and most of her relatives live in Canada. Her brother, Aaron, said a shorter summer break would be "very inconvenient" for school athletes.</p><p>Transylvania County is a poor fit for a modified calendar based on the number of school employees who work summer breaks at local camps or other recreation-based jobs, said retired teaching assistant Lana Rhymer.</p><p>"The jobs that I had in the summer gave me the opportunity to earn money for my family that I would not have the chance to do if school had started back in July or had been extended further into the summer," she said. </p><p>Switching to a modified calendar would cost the Boys and Girls Club of Transylvania County's about 5 percent of its budget, said board member Parker Platt. The club serves 400 students from every county school with after-school and summer programs. </p><p>With no added funds available to offset this cost, Platt said, savings would have to be achieved by raising fees, reducing hours, cutting enrollment, eliminating junior staff positions "or some combinations of these."</p><p>The only person who spoke for some form of modified calendar was Tony Meachum, principal at T.C. Henderson Elementary, who said limiting long summer breaks would "benefit our children, particularly when looking at the skills now that our children need in the 21st century."</p><p>Meachum said the current "agrarian calendar" was developed in the 19th century when "parents had to have their children home for three or four months in the summer to work in the fields. You don't have that to that degree anymore." </p><p>Today, the United States is falling behind other industrialized nations partly because "our students go to school the least number of hours per year." The modified schedule better allows enrichment for gifted kids and remediation for struggling students, he said.</p><p>School board members said they would take all the comments under advisement and thanked everyone, especially the students, for coming.</p><p>"You have given us some more things to think about," said Chair Tawny McCoy.</p><p>Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.</p>